Cha-CHING!

I love a good deal. Which is why I fell in love with my Alaska Airlines credit card the moment we signed up for it several years ago. We've never carried a balance on any of our credit cards, so when I told Bill that we could charge all our expenses to our card and rack up the miles in a hurry, he was on board! We've had several opportunities to fly for free, help family fly for free, and get first class upgrades.

So when I was making travel arrangements for our trip to Seattle in March for an adoptive parent training, the first thing I thought was, "I wonder if our travel dates are blacked out, or will we get free tickets this time?" I decided to also try out Alaska Airlines' hotel and car rental feature. So first, I just tried (without miles) shopping for our trip. Two nights' hotel, car and airfare. We also have a yearly companion certificate for $99, so I decided to try applying that to see what we could save. Then I shopped the exact same flights, hotel and car with MILES - we saved a whopping $1000!!!!

Airfares are expensive anywhere, but it seems like we can't travel anywhere outside Alaska for anything less than $500 per person when we get a good deal. I was so stoked when I got airfare, hotel AND car for less than $250. I am doing the happy dance, people!

Oh, yeah - and we got fingerprinted this week, too. Nothing like thick, oily ink to make you feel like a prospective parent!  =D

Moral of the story: if you plan to adopt (or even travel on a shoestring), you can save yourself quite a bit of cash going this route. You have to be disciplined in your spending, but it really pays off in the end. We have been saving up our miles for quite a while, and we charge everything we can to maximize the benefits.

So, we're all set for the March 5th training in Seattle. We appreciate your continued prayers. We are plowing through as much paperwork as we can, as quickly as we can, for the homestudy. Once that's done, we can focus on the agency's formal application. Thankfully, it looks like a lot of the same information we provide in the homestudy is also requested on our application. LOVE that! We're hoping to be done with homestudy paperwork within the next two weeks. So, here's what you can pray about for us, if you wish:

1. wisdom and efficiency getting our paperwork done
2. fingerprints will get processed without a hitch (sometimes they're returned and have to be redone)
3. inspiration (mostly for Cheri) as we begin to think about the book we need to create for birth mothers to view
4. peace in the midst of so many things needing our attention

Thank you!

Whew! So much to do!

Today we had two meetings - one at Fairbanks Counseling and Adoption, and one over the phone with Bethany Christian Services. Both meetings have resulted in LOTS of paperwork. As my friends Ken and Chelsey joked, we're "paperwork pregnant": instead of prenatal doctor visits we get mountains of paper to fill out!

The meeting at FCA was basically informational. Melody Jamieson, one of the social workers there, talked with us about what to expect in the homestudy process and started a file for us. She gave us a stack of papers that need to be filled out, so we will be pretty busy getting those done. We also made an appointment to have our fingerprints done for our FBI background check. We also need to have a local police clearance done - we still need to get that scheduled, but it's basically a call ahead and walk-up trip.

A little later in the day, our caseworker at Bethany, Becky, called to talk with us about the process at Bethany. She also gave us access to the formal application (MORE mountains of paperwork) to get that started. Originally, I thought we wouldn't get to start the formal application until March but she surprised us. Thankfully, the Bethany "paperwork" is all online, so we won't have to keep track of more actual paper.

One of the things we talked about in the phone meeting was financing. Although the federal government does let us take a tax credit for adoption expenses, it will not cover everything. Bill figures we'll have a substantial tax return coming to us, and we'll have our annual PFD arriving in October, but we'll need to take a look at some other options, too, I think.

So, it looks like we're moving right along. I look at all those papers to fill out and have to take a deep breath - we WILL get it all done! But most importantly, every step we take in our adoption journey takes us just that bit closer to the baby we'll one day welcome to our home. We are already praying for the birthmother and that precious child - I hope you join us!